- Boilot , D.J. 1960 . “ Al-Bīrūnī ” . In Encyclopaedia of Islam , second edition Vol. I , 1236 – 1238 . B. A. Rozenfel'd, M. M. Rozhanskaya and Z. K. Sokolovskaya, Abu-r-Raǐkhan al-Biruni 973–1048 (Moscow, 1973).
- Boilot , D.J. 1955 . L'Oeuvre d'Al-Berūnī. Essai bibliographique . Mélanges de l'Institut d'Études orientales du Caire , 2 : 161 – 256 . and 3 (1956), 391–96
- Suter , H. 1900 . Die Mathematiker und Astronomen der Araber und ihre Werke . Abhandlungen zur Geschichte der mathematischen Wissenschaften , 10 : 81 – 81 . (published as a separate volume); new impression (Amsterdam, 1981)
- Suter , H. 1990 . Die Mathematiker und Astronomen der Araber und ihre Werke . Abhandlungen zur Geschichte der mathematischen Wissenschaften , 10 : 80 – 80 . (published as a separate volume); new impression (Amsterdam, 1981)
- Suter , H. 1900 . Die Mathematiker und Astronomen der Araber und ihre Werke . Abhandlungen zur Geschichte der mathematischen Wissenschaften , 10 : 65 – 65 . (published as a separate volume); new impression (Amsterdam, 1981)
- The calendar was the subject of a paper by Wiedemann E. Ein Instrument das die Bewegung von Sonne und Mond dargestellt, nach al-Bīrūnī Der Islam 1913 4 5 13 This is a partial translation, and Wiedemann does not always distinguish between the original text and his own comments and additions. There are also some errors in his reconstruction of the instrument. These are discussed in the technical commentary.
- In the reign of the Caliph al-Ma'mūn, Muhammad b. Mūsà is said to have travelled to Byzantine territory to collect scientific works. In the same period (early third/ninth century) eminent scholars and translators from Harrān in Upper Mesopotamia moved to Baghdad. See the Mūsà Banū Book of Ingenious Devices Dordrecht 1979 4 4 annotated and translated by Donald R. Hill
- The first of these is an eclipse predictor. Al-Bīrūnī says that it was developed by a certain Nastūlus and by al-Hasan b. Muhammad al-Adamī Suter 27 27 before being completed by ‘Utārid b. Muhammad al-Hāsib (Suter, p. 67). The second instrument is for predicting when to look for the new Moon in the sky, by enabling its user to check the relative positions of the Sun and the Moon. Like the astrolabe it has a plate and a rete. According to al-Bīrūnī, several articles on its construction were written by Abū Dawūd Sulaymān b. Ghasama as-Samarqandī. It was clearly as useful device for those concerned with determining the commencements of the Islamic months.
- Sīm-i-sukhtaj (sic) in all the manuscripts consulted Wiedemann Ein Instrument das die Bewegung von Sonne und Mond dargestellt, nach al-Bīrūnī Der Islam 1913 4 9 9 n. 1, says that it means ‘something black’, but sīm-i sukhta, i.e. ‘burnt silver’, is the Persian term used by Abū-l-Qāsim Kāshānī (Tabrīz, c. AD 1300) for niello. See James W. Allan, Persian Metal Technology 700–1300 AD (London and Oxford, 1979), pp. 19–20, who quotes the methods of preparing niello given by Kāshānī and by al-Hamdānī (Yemen, with Persian contacts, c. AD 942); he points out that al-Hamdānī's niello was silver sulphide, whereas that of Kāshānī was a compound of silver, copper, and lead sulphides
Annals of Science
Volume 42, 1985 - Issue 2